On the eve of another National Night Out I can say I have had better summers in the "hood". We finally got rid of the tenants from "hell" in the corner house and it's been quiet as a church mouse over here. Thank you 5th precinct.
The people who live downstairs from the former tenants are finally free to come outside and sit on their porch. The boys that live there play with my son. The mother looks so happy. She has ventured over to talk with us like normal neighbors. Something she was way too afraid to do before. Her family was being terrorized by the people living upstairs. The nasty corner store is still in business but they can't sell cigarettes so I don't see them staying in business legally a whole lot longer. It's just a matter of time before they get nailed for the illegal stuff they are into. At any rate, there are not people hanging out in front of the place any longer so at least they are more covert about their criminal activity. Must be committing some major WIC fraud. That's all I can figure. Last week, some adult man jumped out of his Lincoln Continental, chased my son up the street 2 blocks away, didn't catch him but managed to get close enough to break a beer bottle over his head. The police came and an ambulance. They were quick and very responsive. While they were talking to people trying to sort this out and we were caring for our bleeding son, someone stole his bicycle. Ain't that wonderful? The police think it was a case of mistaken identity. My questioning of the "kid FBI" in the neighborhood discovers it could be over a bicycle. My son's friend got his bicycle stolen. His little brother was cruising an alley behind a building where he thought the bike was. The father of the kid who allegedly stole the bike came out and told the the little brother to quit spying on their family. Later in the day and completely unbeknown to my son, the kids think the man got in his car and started cruising the hood stalking my son's friend and his little brother. He evidently tried to catch the little brother a block away. When he couldn't he came after my sons friend. My son's friend heard the warning from his little brother and dropped his bike and ran leaving my son confused and not knowing that he too should run from this fool. My son was riding his friend home so he would be safe and then was going to head home himself. 9 staples in the head later and we have not seen hide not hair of the Lincoln or the man that whacked him. The boys all claim they can identify the car and the man that was in it but no one has seen him or the car. My son is spending some time at my brothers farm. He is very resilient and seems to have come through this ordeal pretty well. He has gotten some mileage out of showing the staples on his head to the kids in the neighborhood. That is just an update on crime on my block but not the real point of this post. The real point of this point is that I believe that our lawmakers and the law enforcement and judicial system have a mechanism in place to deal with crime much better than they are. Vigils and bus tours are great and may bring media attention to the issue. It may have value for the victims but the value on criminals is zero, nada, zip. I believe the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee of the city and county can do waaaaaaaaaay more to develop REAL short and long term strategies to deal more effectively with crime. I would be interested in having someone in leadership on that committee report to this list just exactly what this committee is currently working on and what's it's past successes have been. Maybe I have just been missing the boat on this but I don't think so. The membership of this committee consists of the Mayor, two city council members, the county sheriff, the police chief, two county commissioners, probation, cty. and city attorneys and the judges. Forgive me if I forgot someone. Needless to say this is a pretty powerful group. Add a couple legislators and they have a real chance at success. Most especially if they agreed to work more closely with the residents in the areas most impacted by crime by giving them actual membership on this committee. I know that groups individually have made presentations to CJCC and worked with them from time to time but I am just not seeing any fruits for these efforts. Making a presentation is not the same as having an actual seat at the decision-making table. It's time people hold this committee more accountable for developing real solutions to the crime problems. In summary, we are having a National Night Out Party over here tomorrow night in the side yard between my house and the neighbors. We hope it's well attended. In my lame attempts to use the internet to translate the flyer into Spanish I didn't realize I used the word kids for children. The internet interpreted flyer told people to come and bring their goats to the party. So, if you are cruising down 28th and see some goats on Grand just know that I invited them. Barb Lickness Whittier ===== "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
